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wiechfreak
05-26-2004, 09:14 PM
My friend says that u can use the music of another already written song and as long as you change the melody and the lyrics, it is legal. Is this true?
Koala
05-26-2004, 09:55 PM
Well maybe he means you can use the same progression, if that is the case hes right as we only deal with 12 tone scales progressions definitely repeat themselves throught all western music.
SkinnyDevil
05-28-2004, 04:31 PM
Unlike downloading (that's another thread) what you suggest is dangerously close to plagiarism. It's one thing to borrow specific ideas freely or even sample bits of someone else's work, but if you mean actually playing the music EXACTLY as someone else has performed it but just changing the words - no, that'll get you sued.

There ar a lot of myths about copyright....like mailing yourself a copy of your own song via registered mail instead of filling out copyright forms. If you believe that one, I have a bridge I'd like to sell.....
Koala
05-29-2004, 04:30 AM
If you believe that one, I have a bridge I'd like to sell.....

LOL! :D
SkinnyDevil
05-29-2004, 10:54 PM
Geez - I just looked at my post. Struck me a RUDE. My apologies to Wiechfreak if I came across as an ***. I was just trying to convey the rampant copyright mythologies running the music community.

For example, it is required that you register your copyrights with the copyright office in order to sue for infringement in federal court (in the US). Another is that the turning in the forms makes your songs "copyrighted"...when in reality, there is no such thing as "copyrighted" (despite the words' widespread use). The right to copy exists for the creator at the moment of creation - one merely registers that claim with the appropriate governmental office.

The confusion is probably less the fault of musicians & authors and more the fault of lawmakers, however. I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." That, remember, was BEFORE big biz (Disney, Warner, etc.) started purchasing legislation like the DMCA and the Bono Extension Act.